Papier Maisson Ltee., Masson-Angers, Que., has contracted with GE Industrial Systems for large motors and associated electrical equipment for a new single-line, TMP plant at its newsprint mill. The GE motors will be the world’s largest refiner motors currently in service. In addition, Papier Maisson has purchased a Traq Manager roll tracking system from Wrapmation Inc. to manage its customer orders, production, inventory, and shipping operations.

Inter Lake Papers Inc., Kimberly, Wis., has ordered a VPS pressure screen from Voith Sulzer Paper Technology, Appleton, Wis. The screen, operating as a dilution screen, will go into operation in mid 2000.

SAPPI has recently commissioned a 60-ton capacity, laser guided vehicle from Mentor AGVS to connect four paper machine halls at its Skowhegan, Maine, mill. The vehicle will permit any winder to process paper from any paper machine. This will allow major machine rebuilding to occur while maintaining maximum production capacity.

Willamette, Kingsport, Tenn., has added James Ross Ltd. doctor technology to the couch roll and the center press roll on the No. 5 paper machine.

Potlatch Corp. has contracted for a gas collection and scrubbing system and a Millwide Information System (MOPS) from Kvaerner Chemetics. The new systems, to be installed at Potlatch’s Cloquet, Minn., mill, will feature the control and treatment of malodourous gases and provide millwide information.

Fox River Paper, Appleton, Wis., has purchased a Sinclair Box dandy roll suction box along with a Sinclair Cross Shaft dandy stand from Sinclair International for its fine paper mill in Ripon, Calif.

Smurfit-Stone has awarded Goslin, a division of Thermo Black Clawson, an order to make modifications to an existing evaporator set and add two new surface condensers at its Florence, S.C., mill. This upgrade will allow the mill to collect condensates and will enable the mill to meet Cluster Rule requirements. The work is being handled by Goslin as a turnkey project and is scheduled to take place in 2000 during a scheduled outage.

Mead Publishing Paper Div. has a new two-vehicle laser guided AGV system from Mentor AGVS at its Escanaba, Mich., mill. The machines carry 25 ton paper reels between a new biwinder and a supercalender about 600 ft away.

Smurfit-Stone has placed two orders with Goslin to make modifications to existing evaporator sets at the Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Florence, S.C., mills. The modifications will allow the mills to collect condensates and hazardous air pollutants to meet Cluster Rule requirements. Goslin will also add two new surface condensers at the Florence mill. The changes to the systems will be implemented during scheduled outages in 2000.

American Tissue Inc. has ordered a state-of-the-art cut size sheeter from E.C.H. Will for installation at its subsidiary, Pulp & Paper of America in Berlin-Gorham, N.H. The 50,000 tpy sheeter is scheduled to begin production in mid-March 2000.

Crown Vantage has ordered five additional Millennium quality control management systems from Voith for its Parchment, Mich., and Milford, N.J., mills. This brings the number of Millenium systems ordered by the company during the last year to 10.

Weyerhaeuser Co. has ordered a recycling system from Thermo Black Clawson for its Valliant, Okla., mill.

Abitibi Consolidated has ordered a new TMP plant from Valmet for its Kenogami mill in Jonquiere, Que. The new TMP line, which has a design production rate of 450 tpd, is part of a major modernization at the mill.

Solvay Paper, Solvay, N.Y., has added James Ross Ltd. rotating headbox showers with "internal brushes" to the headbox on its new paper machine No. 2. These specialized rotating headbox showers are able to clean using process water rather than fresh water because effective linear-brush technology keeps the shower nozzles open and operating.

Pine Falls Paper Co. has approved installation of a 525 mtpd single pulp line from Valmet for its Pine Falls, Manitoba, mill.

Celulosa Arauco of Chile has purchased a screw press from Vincent Corp. for its Alto Parana mill. A Model CP-12 screw press was selected for dewatering rejects from tertiary brown stock screening. The installation is at a softwood kraft mill in Misiones, Argentina. The objective is to recover the chemicals in the black liquor filtrate. The press sees a 200 gpm flow of screen rejects at 1% consistency.

Shinmoorim Paper’s mill is Chinju, South Korea, has established a new world speed record for fine paper manufacture. The official 24-hour speed record of 4,829 fpm (1,472 m/min) was reached on January 20-21, 2000.

Rolland Inc., a Cascades Company, has started production with a new Mentor AGVS to take paper rolls to a roll wrapping system at its St. Jerome, Que., mill. At the paper machine winder, parent rolls are split into two, three, or four individual rolls. The rolls are grouped together by the AGVS, picked up at the exit ramp of the two paper machines, and carried to the wrapping line for drop off approximately 400 ft away. At the wrapping line, the AGVS centers individual rolls on the wrapping line conveyor. Up to ten rolls per hour are delivered by the AGVS into the wrap line.

Propapier GmbH of Burg, Germany, has ordered a complete liner/fluting machine from Valmet. The 248-in. wire width machine will have a mechanical design speed of 4,922 fpm (1,500 m/min) and a production speed of up to 4,265 fpm (1,300 m/min), making it the world’s fastest linerboard machine. The machine is unique, being the first liner/fluting machine with two gap formers.